high. On Saturday it was standing fresh and green, and at three o'clock in 

 the afternoon there was not a stalk left. Mr. Hughes intended turning his 

 cows in to-day, and had been relying upon the ground providing grazing for 

 some time. Having reserved a small portion of the second crop (which was 

 too good to cut for hay) as seed wheat, he had been unable to turn the stock 

 in before, and it had consequently grown without hindrance. The ground 

 containing the second crop destroyed is about sixty or eighty acres. The 

 locusts were about Burnside in iuimense numbers, and produced quite a 

 humming or buzzing noise in the air as they passed. All seemed to be 

 going S. or S.W. The neighbourhood is still full of them (those left 

 behind), and they are eating every particle of feed down. I am not aware 

 of their having done damage to gardens or standing wheat crops.'" 



"'Delta,' the well-known naturalist of South Australia, writes thus: — 

 ' During the last few weeks these locusts have done more than their average 

 amount of damage at this season of the year, but, judging from past expe- 

 riences of their migratory habits and times of appearance, I do not think we 

 have more than usual to fear from their depredations this season, except in 

 limited localities. These creatures just now more particularly infesting 

 Adelaide and neighbourhood are genuine locusts. 



" ' In every year this kind of migratory locust has appeared at some part 

 or other of the colony in a greater or less degree, though perhaps never to 

 such an extent in our metropolis as during the time first mentioned, — the 

 exact year I foi'get. They were then, and often since, of four distinct 

 species, all flying and mingling together, but not easily distinguished, being 

 nearly similar in size. That spoken of by your correspondent ' Observer ' — 

 " female dirty brown, males a bright yellow " — was and has always been by 

 far the most numerous. In all the locust tribe, I believe without an 

 exception, the male is smaller than the female. 



" ' In every year that I have observed these migrating species at one or 

 other part of the colony, they have in no case been seen in any numbers 

 after the first of January. They seem to die off gradually as the new year 

 approaches ; their time is up, their strength exhausted, and perhaps the 

 increasing heat of the weather and decrease of food aid in their destruction. 

 At this time, also, the females finish their egg-laying. As to remedies 

 against their numbers and destructive habits, these have been asked for 

 naturally enough ever since their first appearance, but none can be offered 

 as concerns the mass, nor reasons given why they come more one year than 

 another, or in particular localities. In the earlier days I could suggest but 

 two things, and these applied only to their very partial destruction, first 

 stating that the gradual cultivation and opening up of the soil would tend 

 as much as anything to decrease their numbers, as the eggs (of which each 

 female lays a good many) are deposited about an inch under ground, thus 

 preserving them from the effects of the weather, but not from the action of 



